Armed police tackling ‘ranting’ Sydney knifeman wound four people

They believe he went missing from a psychiatric facility yesterday.

Former police have backed the actions of the officers who fired after swooping on the busy market square just before noon following reports a man was acting erratically and armed with a carving knife.

“It will be alleged the man approached the police with a large carving knife”. He was wounded several times.

Two women and an elderly man were also injured, witnesses said.

Three bystanders were injured; all three women aged over 60 who are now recovering in hospital.

In that incident, a police officer and security guard were nearly shot dead by a patient on ice.

“The man is known to us”.

Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford said police were alerted when Mr Sourian absconded on Wednesday and officers had been making efforts to try to locate him.

Seven News journalist Robert Ovadia said the knifeman shouted “Allahu Akhbar” before police shot him, and that he had a history of mental health issues.

A knife-wielding man is shot by police at Westfield Hornsby, NSW.

[Image via News corp Australia/Adam Ward]A NSW Ambulance spokesman said paramedics were called to Florence Street, just before midday on Thursday.

“As a effect, four people have sustained various injuries and have been taken to hospital”, it said.

A critical incident has been launched following a shooting at a pedestrian shopping mall in Sydney’s north.

He said police had closed the area to the public, but had not provided any information.

“There are life and death situations where police have to make critical decisions”, Clifford said.

NSW Health says it will also conduct “an urgent and immediate review” into Thursday’s incident.

According to the Daily Mail, a 23-year-old male – described by witnesses as “barefoot” and “really depressed” – was holding a kitchen knife in the shopping centre’s outdoor courtyard.

Witnesses spotted Sourian behaving strangely as he wandered through Hornsby Mall outside Westfield before the shooting.

Thursday’s shooting comes just months after a fatal stabbing at a restaurant at the same shopping centre.

In the minutes before the shooting, Yeom called police after he saw a man walking around with a knife. He said the man was not wearing shoes and appeared to be affected by alcohol.

“He was just wandering around the fountain area”.

“I saw many police running and holding guns and I heard a woman screaming”.

“I realised it was a serious situation and I run to find a place to hide”.